


The One

by thanku4urlove



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, Romance, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 18:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20821922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thanku4urlove/pseuds/thanku4urlove
Summary: Takaki didn't expect to meet his soulmate on a deathbed in a hospital, but sometimes life wasn't fair.





	The One

**Author's Note:**

> Listen y'all. I love soulmate aus. And I miss Takachii. So.

Takaki’s had the words “help me” etched into his skin in white for as long as he can remember. He would probably consider the phrase more unsettling if he weren’t so used to it by now, but the look the nurse was giving his wrist reminded him all over again that words like his weren’t really the norm.

Most people’s wrists had greetings on them. “Hello”s, or “excuse me”s. There were a fair amount of apologies as well, and a few unfortunate souls had phrases that were less than polite on their skin. The words, whatever they may be, were the first words said to you by your soulmate.

Thus far in Takaki’s life, no one has asked him for help, and the words just laid there, meaningless as anything. He snuck a peek at the nurse’s wrist.

_thank you_

She caught him staring, and pulled her hands away.

“Well, your fingers are doubtlessly broken.” She told him matter-of-factly, and he nodded. He could have told her that. Injuries weren’t anything new to him; one of his first memories was falling off his grandfather’s roof as a child. Three broken fingers by tripping down some stairs weren’t anything serious. He got himself patched up, the bones set and wrapped, thanking the staff that helped as he made his exit.

He ended up walking down a deserted corridor on his way out, closed hospital room doors on both sides of him. His footsteps echoed against the tile floor, loud enough for it to take him a few seconds to realize that he was hearing something. There was a frantic beeping noise coming from behind one of the closed doors, Takaki realizing that could mean nothing but bad news, finding the door and wrenching it open.

The sight before him stopped him in his tracks. A man was lying in the hospital bed, his dark hair stark against his pale, sweat-stricken skin. He was incredibly thin and sickly-looking, hooked up to a horrific amount of tubes and wires. One of the monitors connected to him one way or another was beeping wildly, and he looked up at Takaki as the door opened.

“Help me.” He rasped out, and Takaki didn’t need to be told twice, rushing out in search of a doctor, or a nurse, or really anyone that had more medical knowledge than he did.

Thankfully, it wasn’t hard to find someone with a high school diploma or more in a hospital, two doctors and a nurse following him back to the sickly man’s room. The scene they came upon was obviously shocking, the nurse and one doctor rushing in to help while the other ran off for more assistance.

“I-I don’t know what’s wrong, he was like this when I found him.” Takaki explained, the medical personnel checking over the man’s different fluids and monitors.

“His heart rate is spiking.” The nurse reported, a layer of panic just barely audible under the professionalism in her voice. The man was writhing a bit, his fingers clenching and unclenching the sheets under him, and Takaki wanted desperately to help. But there was nothing he could do and he knew it, looking down at his own useless hands when he realized something.

The words across the inside of his wrist were glowing gold. He read over the two of them again before looking at the man in the bed, who was now swarmed by doctors, all of them rushing around the room, holding syringes or fiddling with machinery. This man was his soulmate.

The realization floored him for a couple of reasons. The first was that he’d always pictured himself with a woman, but that concern was pushed aside by the much more pressing matter at hand: his soulmate appeared to be dying.

He approached the bed, reaching out with his uninjured hand. Their fingers tangled together, the man squeezing his hand painfully.

“You’ll be fine.” Takaki promised him, the man looking up at him as he spoke. Then he smiled, his face going calm. The machines around beeped wildly, his eyes sliding closed. A second later, there was nothing but a droning monotone cutting through the room, and Takaki couldn’t move, standing there, shocked. He turned the limp hand over, seeing the words written on the incredibly pale skin. _you’ll be fine._

One by one, the machines were clicked off, and a deafening silence filled the room in its place.

“Inoo Kei.” One of the doctors said, sounding defeated. “Time of death: 2:47 p.m.”

Takaki swallowed thickly. He felt dazed, letting one of the nurses put a gentle hand on his shoulder and steer him from the room. He glanced back at the door as he passed through it, but it swung closed behind him, Inoo Kei blocked from his view.

He felt strange, exiting the hospital and starting down the street. Looking down at his wrist he saw that the words weren’t shining gold anymore, now a deep dull black.

He knew how he should feel. He’d just lost his soulmate, watched his one true love die right in front of him. He should feel destroyed. He should feel profoundly sad, completely defeated, absolutely alone. And sure, he was sad, and in shock, but at the same time… He hadn’t known Inoo Kei that long. He hadn’t known Inoo Kei at all, really, and as a result he felt strangely detached from the whole event, an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

Takaki was so deep in thought that he wasn’t watching where he was going, slamming into the person in front of him. The stranger was knocked off their feet, falling to the sidewalk, Takaki cursing his own stupidity.

“I’m so, so sorry.” He said hurriedly, reaching down to help the person back to their feet. It was a young man, much shorter than Takaki himself. He had short black hair, and as he reached up to accept Takaki’s help, Takaki’s eyes caught the writing on his wrist. It said _you’re cute_, written like his was, the lettering jet black.

The man recoiled when he noticed Takaki’s gaze, pulling the sleeve of his jacket down over his arm. His eyes were puffy and the tip of his nose was red; he’d been crying, but before Takaki could say a word he’d pulled his hood up over his head and turned back around, continuing on his way.

Takaki’s next few days were distracted, to say the least. Between Inoo Kei, the writing on his wrist, and the stranger he’d bumped into, relentless thoughts were making every task difficult, from work to the simple act of sleeping. He was grateful when the weekend hit, making his way to a coffee shop down the street from his apartment and ordering a large cup of caffeine.

Standing at the counter, waiting for his drink to be prepared, Takaki glanced around the cafe. His eyes caught on a stranger sitting in the back of the room, the crumbs of a pastry on the napkin in front of him, his hood pulled up over his head and his form vaguely familiar.

“Excuse me.” Takaki said quickly to the barista. “Could you make that two coffees, please?”

The woman simply nodded, getting back to work, now doubling his order. He paid, walking over to the man.

“Here.” Was all Takaki could think to say, extending the cup out. He got no response, not even a glance, so he just sat the cup down--even if the stranger didn’t want it, Takaki himself wasn’t going to drink it--exiting the shop.

The man was there again the next day. He already had a coffee with him, holding the cup to his lips with both hands, his fingers barely peeking out from the sleeves, so this time Takaki bought two raspberry scones.

He wasn’t the biggest fan of sweets but he ate some anyway, sitting himself down a few tables away from the stranger. He hadn’t gotten any response that day either when he’d set the scone down on a napkin, but Takaki swore he saw the hint of a smile as, right when he got up to leave, the man brought the pastry to his lips.

After a little, Takaki began noticing a pattern. The man was at the coffee shop four days a week--Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday--every week, sometime midmorning. As soon as he realized it Takaki made sure to be there, buying the man a coffee if he didn’t have one, and some sort of pastry if he did. On Wednesday morning, Takaki entered the coffee shop first.

He’d never gotten there first before, ordering his two coffees, unsure of what to do with himself. He sat and sipped, looking up every time the front door chimed. His cup was halfway empty when the familiar face finally walked in, glancing around the cafe. Takaki wondered stupidly if he should wave.

He didn’t end up needing to, the man meeting his eyes, completely bypassing the front counter and walking over. Takaki held the coffee out, and the man took it.

“Thank you.” he said, and Takaki couldn’t help his dumbfounded expression. “I’m Chinen Yuri.”

“I’m Takaki Yuya.” Takaki responded once he’d regained his wits. “Would you like to sit down?”

After a moment of contemplation, Chinen thanked him again, accepting his offer and sitting across from him.

Takaki had no idea what to say. He wanted to speak to him, to take advantage of this opportunity, to say something positive that would maybe get this man to smile.

“The weather’s nice today.”

Chinen Yuri raised his eyebrows, the lower half of his face disappearing behind his cup as he took a drink.

“That’s what you open with?” He asked, but thankfully there was an amused lilt to his voice. “After weeks of silently buying me coffee, you open with the weather?”

“The weather is nice though.” Takaki argued, and to that Chinen nodded a bit.

“How would you have opened the conversation then?” Takaki asked him, taking a drink of his own. Chinen fell silent as he thought.

“I didn’t drink coffee before you.” He finally said. “You bought my first ever coffee for me. I’m surprised I didn’t hate it.”

“Oh, sorry.” Takaki couldn’t help but say. Coffee was addictive, and an expensive habit to keep.

“No, it’s okay. It’s better than the other addictions I was considering.” That phrase was surprising, but when Takaki looked over, Chinen wasn’t looking at him. “Smoking would have made my dad much angrier. He’s big on the importance of personal health.” He waved a hand, as though to imply that he didn’t feel the same way. And maybe he didn’t, Takaki realized.

“So,” Chinen set his coffee cup down, looking at Takaki across the table. “What do you want to talk about, Takaki Yuya?”

Takaki quickly learned that Chinen had an extremely sharp tongue on him, despite his cute exterior. And he knew he was cute too; Takaki wondered if the words on his arm had anything to do with that. The words that had gone black.

Takaki still bought coffee for Chinen, but instead of sitting silently and alone, they sat together, and talked. Chinen was very nonchalant when he spoke, but he never seemed bored, or disinterested. Takaki wanted to talk about the black writing that each of them had--Chinen’s was always covered by long sleeves--but instead, they seemed to talk about everything else. And Takaki always found himself talking the most, Chinen usually just making comments or chipping in his own two cents.

“But then I told him--” Takaki was in the middle of a story about work, Chinen watching him from over the rim of his coffee cup “--well, I told him you’re cute. But you already knew that.”

“Knew what?”

“That I think you’re really cute.” Truth be told, Takaki had been taken by Chinen the first time he’d seen him, and getting to know him over the past couple of months had done nothing but to help him realize that. He hadn’t thought it to be a secret either, but Chinen seemed caught off guard by his words.

“Yuya…” Chinen said his name slowly as he set his cup down, catching his gaze and holding it. “Could you walk me home?”

“Of course.” He answered instantly, getting up as Chinen stood. They made their way out and down the street, Takaki realizing they were walking towards his apartment complex.

“Hey, I live here too. Third floor.”

Chinen just nodded in response, and together they climbed the stairs to the fifth floor. They stopped in front of room 317, Chinen unlocking his front door before turning to face him. He looked strangely nervous.

“Come… Come here.”

Nerves twisted suddenly in Takaki’s stomach as Chinen beckoned him down with a finger. He realized before it happened that Chinen was about to kiss him, letting his eyes fall closed and pulling him closer.

The kiss was short and much too soon Chinen pulled back, coming down from his tiptoes, his eyes anxious and hesitant as he searched Takaki's face.

"I... I like you." He confessed, and affection welled in Takaki's chest, a feeling he'd been pushing aside and explaining away since he's seen Chinen sitting alone in the coffee shop. Kissing Chinen was like a breath of fresh air, like a deep inhale after being stuck underwater. There had been a strange, aching guilt in his chest since his soulmate died, but he'd been living with it for so long that he didn't truly notice it until it was gone at the touch of Chinen's lips against his. But he cared about Chinen Yuri, he truly did, sweeping him up off his feet and kissing him again.

Chinen must have taken the kiss as an acceptance to his confession because he kissed Takaki back, wrapping his arms around his neck and pulling him as close as possible. They stumbled backwards into Chinen's apartment, Takaki sitting down on at the couch as his legs hit the furniture. He sat down and pulled Chinen close, who was still kissing him, sighing into his touch, and Takaki couldn't help but smile.

Chinen must have felt him smiling, because a moment later he pulled back, and he was smiling too.

"You make me happy." Takaki explained, Chinen leaning back onto the couch to nestle under Takaki's arm.

"You make me happy too." He said. "This is the happiest I've been since..." He paused for a long moment before pulling his sleeve back, displaying the words on his wrist. _you're cute_ was there, stark against his pale skin.

"What happened?" Takaki asked quietly. Chinen was silent for a long moment before shrugging.

"He was wonderful. He was funny, and kind to me, and smart... Not as smart as I am, of course, but..." That comment made Takaki chuckle, Chinen smiling too. "And... He died."

He didn't elaborate and Takaki didn't press him, holding up his own wrist instead.

"I barely met mine." He confessed. "I was in the hospital for some broken fingers, and I heard this beeping sound. He was there, in the hospital bed, and he asked me to help him, but... He didn't make it."

Chinen frowned a little, reaching up to touch the side of his face, and Takaki continued.

"I never took relationships seriously, because I knew they weren't the 'the one', or whatever that's supposed to mean. But now that my soulmate has come and gone, and I never really experienced any of the things that people talk about, I'm not really sure..." He didn't really know where the sentence was going, the confused jumble of feelings in his chest making it hard for him to find the right string of words that would express it. But Chinen didn't ask him to try, just reaching up to kiss him again.

"That's fine." He said, Takaki letting out a breath. "You don't need to know. I mean, you are a little stupid."

Takaki nudged him with his elbow in protest, but the sentence was said in a light-hearted tone.

"But I can kiss you, and you can buy me coffee, and... We'll just see what happens. Who's to say what 'true love' really is, anyway?"

Takaki nodded a little, letting Chinen settle back under his arm. It wasn't like him to overthink, and while sometimes he kicked himself for not thinking things through enough, maybe this time he was stressing himself out over something he couldn't control. He could just hold Chinen in his arms, and see where this went.


End file.
